AirAsia to Launch Kuala Lumpur-Davao, Philippines Flights by end 2017

25th Jul 2017

As of 21^st December this year, customers of Malaysian budget carrier AirAsia will have another route between to the Philippines they can use as the airline has announced that it will launch flights between Kuala Lumpur and Davao starting from 21^st December, 2017.

Speaking about the new route, AirAsia Group Chief Executive Officer Tony Fernandes said:

Davao has a special place in my heart. It was one of the first cities we flew to when we started our Philippines operations in 2012. In fact, Clark-Davao, which we pioneered, was one of the two maiden routes when we started AirAsia Philippines five years ago. Since then, we have worked to strengthen our network in Davao. In this year alone, we have launched new flights from Davao to Cebu, Palawan and Boracay, and enabled Fly-Thru via Cebu to international destinations such as Singapore, Taipei and Seoul.

He added:

We believe Davao has the potential to be the international gateway for ASEAN to the southern Philippines, beginning with this new route to Kuala Lumpur. We strongly support the development of cities outside Metro Manila, and we are confident that by increasing connectivity and accessibility to affordable air travel, AirAsia can help play a role in boosting economic growth in the south. We can't do it alone and we need airports to share in the responsibility, but together we can make His Excellency President Duterte’s vision of a more prosperous Philippines come true.

Sara Duerte-Carpio, Davao City Mayor commented:

We see Davao City as a major point of growth in the international market, especially with agriculture being the city’s largest industry. Our aim for the city is also to grow it to become a hub for financial, tourism, service and education in Mindanao. The introduction of the direct flights between Kuala Lumpur and Davao could not be more timely and is a key step in this direction to empower local players across various economic activities.

Davao will be AirAsia’s fourth direct route between Malaysia and Philippines. The airline already flies to Manila, Cebu and Kalibo. In the last two years alone (2015 and 2016), the Malaysian airline flew 577,536 passengers on these routes.